PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla.—Rays lefty Matt Moore wasn't always considered the next Sandy Koufax or, not to get too carried away, the next David Price.

Moore was an eighth-round pick out of a New Mexico high school in 2007, and not because sign-ability was an issue. He signed for $115,000 and was pitching in the minors less than a month after being drafted.

Two years later, Moore led the minor leagues in strikeouts and the Rays began to realize they might have a keeper. But they did not get ahead of themselves. They kept Moore on the same development program that had him spend at least a season at every level in the minors. "He is a testament to their scouting and development," a rival executive says.

The Rays knew he was getting close last spring, but …

"We weren't exactly making plans that Matt Moore was going to be starting Game 1 of the playoffs," pitching coach Jim Hickey says.

By the time Moore shut out the Rangers for seven innings of the AL Division Series last October, he had ascended to the game's top pitching prospect. The Rays, not a club to throw away money, locked him up during the off-season with a five-year, $14 million contract that could rise to $39.75 million and eight years before he could become a free agent. Now only an injury will keep him from opening the season in a rotation widely considered one of the game's best.

"We have some really good pitchers here," Rays manager Joe Maddon says and rattles off a few. "The difference with Matt is at 22 years of age, he's got this accomplished feel for pitching already. Combine that with his extraordinary talent level and that's what sets him apart."

That's part of it, anyway. Moore also has an easy delivery and "the ball just jumps out of his hand," as Maddon says. Perhaps most impressive, at least in the eyes of scouts who have watched him, is the way Moore carries himself. "He's got it here and here," an executive says, pointing to his heart and his head.

Moore knows what the baseball world is saying about him, and he does not run from the great expectations. "It's always good to have people on your side," he says. "If I take care of what I can and continue to be diligent with my workouts, those things are going to take care of themselves. We'll see where we're at."

He carries himself these days with a demeanor as cool as the Imagination T-shirt he was sporting Sunday, but he was not born with such unflappability.

"I wouldn't say I was a hothead," Moore says. "But when I was in the minor leagues, I could get in my own head or mad at myself for something I did. It's definitely something that I have had to work on for the past five years. But if I'm out there and upset with myself, I know my teammates are looking at me. I try to keep it locked up inside."

Whether he's struggling or going strong, such as when he was dominating in the playoffs in his second big-league start. "There's a lot of good feelings going on inside me," he says. "It's about containing them as much as containing the bad ones."

He had a bad one on Sunday when he gave up two homers, walked three and lasted only 2 1/3 innings against a Red Sox lineup comprised mostly of minor-leaguers. Of his 52 pitches, only 26 were strikes as he struggled with his fastball command and the grip on his changeup.

Moore gave up a long, two-out, first-inning home run to fellow New Mexican Cody Ross after getting ahead in the count 0-2. Non-roster invitee Josh Kroger led off the second with a homer off a 92 mph fastball after Moore fell behind in the count 2-0. He really faltered in the third when he walked the bases loaded, causing him to reach his pitch limit after only seven outs.

"This is almost perfectly normal," Hickey said. "He's a little bit behind and when guys get out there for their second and sometimes third time, they're a little fatigued. I'm not surprised or concerned."

Not surprisingly, neither was Moore. "As of late, there hasn't been a whole lot of appearances like that," he shrugged. "But you never know what you're going to get until you go out there and start going through the mechanics."